Skip to Content

Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Other Healthcare Fraud

The United States federal government spends more than $4 trillion on health care annually. Medicare alone accounts for roughly 21% of national health spending and 10% of the entire federal budget. Not surprisingly, fraud on the government related to healthcare spending is always a major enforcement priority for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and other law enforcement agencies. According to the DOJ, since 1986 more than $50 billion has been recovered in False Claims Act cases involving the healthcare industry, including recoveries from drug and medical device manufacturers, home health companies, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, and physicians. The vast majority of these cases – amounting to almost $39 billion – relied on whistleblowers to report fraud.

Getnick Law Has Successfully Represented Healthcare Fraud Whistleblowers for Decades

Getnick Law has a proven track record of success in representing whistleblowers who have blown the whistle on healthcare fraud. Our attorneys have considerable expertise in unraveling complex healthcare-related fraud schemes and developing a strong working relationship with government attorneys investigating the fraud. Highlights include:

Pharmaceuticals

  • GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay the government $750 million to settle civil and criminal charges that it manufactured and sold adulterated drug products to government health plans following a whistleblower suit brought by Getnick Law on behalf of a GSK Quality Assurance Manager. The groundbreaking case represented the first time the False Claims Act was successfully used to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable for violations of manufacturing standards, known as Current Good Manufacturing Practices or cGMPs. Getnick Law obtained the then-largest award for a single whistleblower for its client.
  • Bayer agreed to pay the government $257 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Getnick Law on behalf of a former Bayer executive. The lawsuit alleged that Bayer engaged in a fraudulent “private labeling” scheme to avoid paying rebates to Medicaid for two popular drugs. The settlement was the first major national Medicaid fraud settlement, and Getnick Law obtained a 24% award for its client.

Medical Devices and Equipment

  • Orthofix International NV agreed to pay the government $42 million to settle civil and criminal charges related to its marketing and sale of bone growth stimulators to Medicare and other federal health plans. The settlement was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Getnick Law on behalf of a Midwest billing consultant who brought the allegations to the government’s attention and was awarded a 27% share of the civil recovery.
  • Medical device manufacturer Huntleigh Healthcare agreed to pay the government $4.9 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Getnick Law. The suit alleged that Huntleigh was fraudulently overbilling for lymphedema pumps by claiming the pumps had high-grade design features they did not have.

Laboratory Testing

  • Laboratory Corporation of America agreed to pay the government $187 million in a global settlement following a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Getnick Law on behalf of a North Carolina doctor. The lawsuit alleged that LabCorp had included unnecessary blood tests in standard packages of routine tests giving doctors no option but to receive them.

Hospitals

  • Curative Health Services, Inc. agreed to pay the government $16.5 million to settle allegations that it caused hospitals at which it operated wound care centers to submit fraudulent cost reports to the government. The settlement resulted from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Getnick Law on behalf of a hospital reimbursement manager who, together with a second whistleblower, received 19.5% of the recovery. HCA, Inc., a nationwide hospital chain that operated numerous Curative wound care centers, also paid $4 million to settle a related lawsuit brought by Getnick Law alleging that HCA submitted claims to Medicare for a biological wound care product whose safety and effectiveness had not been established and was not reimbursable.

Contact Us

If you think you may have information relating to healthcare fraud, fill out our contact form or call us at (212) 376-5666 for a free evaluation of your potential case. We represent our whistleblower clients on a contingent fee basis, meaning that an attorney’s fee is paid only if your case is successful.